The Rock N' Roll Truth
by RicardianScholar Clark-Weasley
Summary: In which Jagged Stone bursts into Marinette's classroom to debunk Lila's lies and rescue Marinette.


It was what was quickly becoming a normal day for Marinette. Lila was once again telling more lies about all the famous people she apparently knew and everyone else ate it up like it was the God's honest truth. Marinette gritted her teeth as she kept her head bowed down and focused on her classwork.

She was trying to take the high road like Adrien told her too, _she really was,_ but it was getting harder and harder each day especially when Alya kept shooting her looks that screamed '_stop being such a jealous bitch girl!_'. Her own best friend didn't have her back any more and it stung like hell. Marinette almost felt like she was back in the pre-Ladybug days when she had no real friends just bystanders who will watch her stumble through life alone and hurting.

"That sounds fascinating Lila," Ms Bustier said quietly but firmly, "but you need to focus on answering the questions on the board now."

Lila scowled but obeyed and Marinette relished in the bliss the silence had to offer as she tried to focus on her own work. The only sound in the classroom was the ticking of the clock, the soft intake and exhale of everyone's breathing, and Marinette's own heart beat thumping slowly, and then -

**BANG!**

Everyone jumped as the classroom door slammed open into the wall and bounced back. It was hastily pushed again to reveal a slightly dishevelled Jagged Stones in all of his rock n' roll glory. His eyes scanned the room and lit up with childish delight upon landing on Marinette.

"MA_RIN_ETTE!"

"_Jagged Stone_!" Marinette cried out surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"It's a fashion emergency!" Jagged declared melodramatically. "_I need you_!"

"Jagged," Marinette shook her head exasperatedly, "_I'm in class_!"

This spurred Ms Bustier into action as she stepped between Jagged and Marinette with a stern expression etched into her face. "Mr Stone, this is a _school!_" She reprimanded. "And as you can see Marinette is in a middle of a lesson, you cannot just barge in here and-"

Jagged merely stepped round Ms Bustier as he thrust a piece of paper into her face. "_Here_!" He snapped as he didn't even bother to glance her way.

Ms Bustier accepted the paper hesitatingly as she looked up at Jagged with a startled look. "What...what is this?" she asked warily.

"Parental Permission Note!" Jagged announced looking proud of himself. "Tom and Sabine agree that it is in Marinette's best interest to spend the day with me instead of here," he winked at Marinette conspiratorially and Marinette couldn't help but smile back. It was hard to not break into giggles at the flabbergasted expression on Ms Bustier's and everyone else's faces. She doesn't know why this is so shocking to them. They all knew she knew Jagged Stone. "Her future as a fashion designer depends on it!" Jagged added loudly and dramatically.

"Jagged I'm honoured," Marinette said calmly, "but if it's another pair of glasses I can do them _after_ school."

She had to try being the responsible and sensible one (Jagged was never going to be for a start) even though she really wanted to grab Jagged's hand and run off to deal with whatever fashion emergency that so desperately needed her (apparent) expertise. She so badly needed a break from the never-ending toxic atmosphere in school and be _herself_ again. But she also couldn't cope with another patented disappointed look from Tiki who would remind her that her duties and responsibilities come before her wants and desires.

She had to live up to her Ladybug name and spots with or without the mask these days.

It was so_ exhausting. _

Jagged, however, wasn't going to take a no for answer.

"This is bigger and better and more important than just _glasses_!" Jagged flapped his arms in some sort of melodramatic gesture as he pulled out another piece of paper and flourished it. "It's _this!_"

Marinette accepted the piece of paper and smoothed it out properly to reveal it was a badly printed flyer. It looked so slapdash and last minutely thrown together that she couldn't help but think it was a fake. "The Rock N' Roll Pets Beauty Competition?" She read out sceptically as she raised an eyebrow up at Jagged.

Jagged ignored her scepticism with a radiant, childish, grin.

"Fang needs a rock n' roll outfit that makes him shine," he said cheerfully, "and you're the only designer he won't bite."

Well...Marinette could believe _that_ titbit of truth. Fang had a grumpy nature and barely tolerated the people around Jagged Stone on a good day. A bad day where he is being poked and prodded and forced into clothes? He was naturally going to bite someone.

He wouldn't bite her though. Marinette wasn't sure how she did it but she had managed to win some cuddles of the secretly sweet crocodile. He liked to rest his head on her lap while she talked music and designs with Jagged.

Still though this really could wait until after school and she was just about to open her mouth to say so when her classmates finally got over the shock of the Jagged Stone being in their classroom, and interrupted her.

"_Ooh_!" Rose cooed excitedly. "Is Fang your kitty?"

Marinette barely resisted the urge to facepalm at that. Did no one ever pay attention to a single Jagged Stone interview in their lives? She thought these people were supposed to be Jagged Stone fans since they were all eager to turn up to Chloe's bribery session to get his autograph. Apparently they weren't very good fans if they hadn't realised that Fang was a _crocodile_ and not a cat.

And all amnesiacs if they've all forgotten the day Jagged Stone stormed the Bourgeois' hotel with Fang by his side.

_Urgh! _

Jagged turned to look at Rose blankly. "Excuse me?" he said bewilderedly.

"Your kitty," Rose carried on brightly like an idiot while Lila sank low into her seat, "you know the one Lila saved from the air plane that resulted in her getting tinnitus."

Jagged blinked dumbly at that. "Lie-who now?" he asked.

Marinette barely smothered a snort at that not that anyone noticed as all eyes – wide with confusion – were all on Jagged Stone at this point. Apart from Adrien who had his narrowed in suspicion and annoyance which really hurt Marinette to look at so she decided to actively avoid his gaze and keep her own – undoubtedly filled with glee, _can you blame her? _\- fixed on Jagged who had the most brilliant blank and bewildered expression on his face.

"_Lila!_" Rose repeated irritably. "You know, Lila Rossi! She saved your pet cat!"

"How do you not recognise her?" Kim demanded hotly. "She risked her life for your pet."

"And ended up with a disability!" Max added crossly. "And you can't even pick her out in a room? She's _right there_!"

Max pointed wildly at Lila who had slid so low into her seat now she was virtually under her desk. Jagged eyed her up and down with such a blank, unimpressed, look that Marinette's shoulder shook at the restraint not to laugh out loud.

"I can honestly say," Jagged said blandly, "I have_ never _seen that girl in my life before."

Everyone's mouth dropped open in shock apart from Marinette (who was battling the urge to laugh with all her strength and determination) and Adrien, who...well she wouldn't know how he was reacting because she didn't need another trademarked disapproving glare in her life.

"But...but...but..."

"Furthermore," Jagged crossed his arms exaggeratedly as he loudly spoke over Rose's stammering, "I never had a cat and never will. Fang," he added proudly, "is a rock n' roll _crocodile_."

There were more fish impressions as several members of Marinette's class opened and closed their mouths repeatedly at that. Marinette now had to fight back an urged to bang her head against her desk.

_How do you forget that Jagged Stone has a crocodile?!_

_Seriously!_ Someone please explain that to her because she's at a loss at how you could forget something so fricking memorable.

"Erm, Mr Stone, sir?" Mylene raised her hand timidly. Jagged jumped back, horrified at being called Mr Stone and sir, but he didn't discourage Mylene as he shot her a welcoming smile. "Why would you never get a cat?"

"Because," Marinette said flatly, "he's allergic to animal fur."

Everyone stared at her now as if she was someone they had never seen before in their lives. There was a light of comprehension suddenly appearing in all of their eyes as they all, apparently, remembering that Marinette knew Jagged Stone.

_Sweet Jesus! _

Jagged grinned wide and toothily like Fang would "Good to know you're a true fan Marinette," he winked, "I've said that exact same thing so many times in various interviews when asked why I have Fang."

"So let me get this straight," Chloe said bossily, and somewhat smugly as she shot a smirk over her shoulder at Lila, "you've never written a song about Lila?"

Marinette wasn't annoyed that Chloe asked such a stupid question.

Chloe hated Jagged Stone and always preferred the latest soulless, heartless, machine made pop songs that XY spouted out every other week. She wasn't going to know Jagged Stone's discography whatsoever.

But Nino?

And Ivan, and Mylene, and Juleka, and Rose? All big fans of Jagged and so called music experts by the way. _What was their excuse?_

"_Hell no_!" Jagged cried out aghast. "Penny was very firm about the un-rock n' roll insinuations about writing as song about an under-aged teenage girl. We were lucky that Ladybug is more of an icon than a person these days or that song could have caused some _serious_ un-rock n' roll legal problems for myself. Otherwise I'd totally release my song dedicated to the awesomeness that is Marinette by now."

Marinette choked and squeaked simultaneously at that.

Jagged wants to do _**WHAT?!**_

It was both the coolest (and most flattering) and embarrassing thing anyone has ever announced about her. She was seriously touched that Jagged thought so highly of her but also hideously mortified that there might be a song out there where her name was howled repeatedly to the strains of an electric guitar.

She totally got what Penny meant about insinuations this was absolutely_ nothing_ like when her great uncle named his soup after her!

"_You wrote a song about Marinette?!_"

And then Marinette's flattered embarrassment evaporated at the sheer disbelief in her fellow classmates voices as they chorused the question in near-perfect harmony.

They believed that Jagged would write a song for someone who rescued a cat he didn't have but the idea of him writing one for Marinette, someone who made his favourite pair of sunglasses (as he loudly told the press about three times in the last six months) and album cover, was _unbelievable?!_

Well, gee, _thanks guys! _

"Why wouldn't I write a song about such rock n' roll brilliance?" Jagged grinned lazily as he plucked Marinette's hand and held it up for the whole class to see. "Such dainty fingers of a princess but they work magic like a sorceress," he crooned. "Oh Marinette! Marinette! Marinette!"

Marinette blanched as she felt her cheeks burn from embarrassment and everyone else just gawped at the pair of them unattractively in a rather uncomfortable suffocating silence. And then -

_**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!**_

Everyone jumped and turned to look at Adrien who got out of his seat so forcefully the chair scrapped excruciatingly against the floor. It was as if Chloe raked her nails against the blackboard it was so spine-shiveringly terrible. His face was as red as Marinette's felt (and believe her that was dangerously close to the scarlet red of her Ladybug suit) as he looked rather cross and pained all at once for some unfathomable reason.

"I, erm, agree with your personal assistant," Adrien muttered uncomfortably, "That song isn't appropriate right now."

Jagged nodded sagely in agreement. "It needs work," he said, clearly missing both Penny's and Adrien's point. "Good thing I have ten years for it to appear respectably rock n' roll to work on it."

Adrien spluttered at that as did Marinette but Jagged ignored them both as he used his hold on Marinette's hand to haul her out of her seat.

"Come along Marinette," he said cheerfully, "the beauty contest is this weekend and Fang is in desperate need of your miraculous brand of magic."

Marinette staggered and tripped over her own feet as she tried to keep up with Jagged's exuberant and fast pace. There was a loud angry buzz of murmurs behind her from her fellow classmates that she couldn't quite catch until Rose's voice – loud and angry- cut across the room for all to hear.

"So if you didn't save Jagged's cat," Rose said crossly, "how did you get tinnitus?"

"That's assuming she _had _tinnitus," Max pointed out snidely, "it vanished rather quickly if I recall correctly."

Jagged halted to a stop.

Marinette instantly collided into him but he didn't seem to mind or notice as he turned slowly but stiffly to give Lila the dirtiest, coldest, glare she had ever seen. No Akuma or Chloe or probably not even the icy Gabriel Agreste, could match the cold fury etched into Jagged's usually bright and happy face.

"I beg your pardon," he said in a deadly quiet voice, "But did you just say she _pretended to have tinnitus_?"

The whole class fell silent and it was a heavy silence that almost suffocated them all as even Marinette watched Jagged warily. He looked so utterly disgusted that Marinette felt a tiny, just a teensy bit, sorry for Lila.

"I have tinnitus," Jagged said solemnly, "It's a consequence of my art. I am constantly surrounded by loud noise in my concerts as I stand right by those speakers and because of that it will never be temporary like it is for those who go to my concert. It is a horrible, chilling, disability that will one day render me deaf and unable to hear a single note of music, rock n' roll or otherwise."

Jagged stared down at Lila with so much disgust and fury that several of Marinette's classmates flinched back and looked guilty as if they had been the ones that told the lie.

"Telling tall tales is one thing, all kids do that," Jagged shrugged dismissively, "but faking a disability?" His face hardened once more. "That's _despicably un-rock n' roll_. You should be ashamed of yourself."

She wasn't.

Marinette could tell.

Lila may have shrank back and all but hid beneath her desk but it was out of the humiliation of having her lie exposed and not because she was genuinely ashamed of herself. Her eyes burned with the insult as she glared hatefully at Marinette.

Marinette gazed back undaunted.

What?

It's not Marinette's fault that Lila was simply incapable of doing a Google search before she opened her mouth and lied. All she had to do was search Jagged Stone and Paris, and everything about Jagged and Marinette's professional relationship could be found within seconds.

Not to mention his animal fur allergy and hundreds of pictures of his beloved Fang.

Perhaps Lila ought to learn to just not lie.

_And maybe pigs will fly,_ Marinette snorted to herself.

Jagged, so disgusted and furious with Lila, turned away instantly as he herded Marinette out of the classroom and through the corridors before the class could explode with their own indignant anger. Jagged stomped the whole way and threw himself sulkily into the back seat of his limo that had waited patiently throughout his whole scene in class.

The silence in his limo was almost as suffocating at the silence in the classroom earlier. The difference was, though, Marinette hadn't hesitated to break the tension whatsoever.

"So..." she grinned. "The Rock N' Roll Pets Beauty Competition?"

Jagged threw his head back and laughed. "Think they brought it?" he asked with childish glee.

"Weren't you in the same room as me?" Marinette asked dryly. "They clear buy_ anything_." It was mean but so very true. Another day she would be sad about it but today she couldn't help but smile because she was _free!_ "But don't you think," she added reluctantly, "that it's a bit hypocritical to lie when you're telling someone else off for lying?"

"It's _fudging_ the truth!" Jagged protested. "That parental permission note is real. I was at the bakery today and your parents were telling me you were having a tough time at school lately. They were worried about you, _I _was worried about you," he said softly and Marinette flushed but smiled gratefully at her favourite rock star and friend for this little bit of kindness. "So I convinced them to let me spring you out of school for the day to cheer you up. If you don't want it to be a lie then you should then spend the afternoon magicking up some rock n roll awesome pet wear that Fang would _actually _wear. I know you can do it. You're amazing like that."

"An afternoon coming up with animal friendly rock n' roll gear?" Marinette repeated wistfully. "Sounds like my kind of afternoon."

"**ALL RIGHT!**" Jagged belted out as he punched a victorious fist in the air. "Hey, let's go and get some _rock n' rolled _ice cream too! We deserve some sugar after that un-rock n' roll nonsense!"

Marinette groaned at the pun but she had absolutely no objection to a load of chocolatey marshmallow-y goodness while she got to cuddle Fang and thought up waistcoats and collars that the crocodile might deign to wear.

It was such a good afternoon that Marinette felt all of her troubles melt away as her shoulders relaxed for the first time in forever and she felt more at ease with herself than she had done in months.

Nothing could bring her down after such a good afternoon.

Nothing at all.

Not even when Adrien's fear was proven right and an Akumatised Lila (for the_ fourth fricking time_, Marinette must point out!) burst into Jagged Stone's hotel room could Marinette bring herself to be at upset Especially when Jagged slammed his guitar over the Akuma's head and Fang took a big bite out of Lila's leg in Marinette's defence.

In fact, if she was being honest (and she must be honest because the truth was rock n' roll as Jagged would say), that was the icing on her cake that day.

Jagged Stone was totally her hero!


End file.
